Distributors for ignition systems



June 17,1958 A. H. BILLINGS DiSTRIBUTORS FOR IGNITION SYSTEMS File l Sept. 25, 1956 INVENTOR. I ALFRED h. B/LL/IVGS ATTORNEY United States Patent DISTRIBUTORS FOR IGNITION SYSTEMS Alfred H. Billings, San Francisco, Calif., assignor to Oscar Goebel and Paula E. Goebel, both of San Francisco, Calif.

This invention relates to improvements in distributors for ignition systems and particularly to a positive contact breaker or interrupter device in such distributors.

In the structures heretofore utilized in distributors usually a cam with several high points was utilized for the purpose of moving a breaker lever so as to separate breaker points at predetermined intervals. This system had many disadvantages especially on account of wearing out or inoperativeness of the breaker points or the breaking of the spring, and furthermore the operation of such breaker device in high speed engines became very inaccurate, because it could not keep up in making and breaking contacts with the revolutions of a high speed racing engine.

It is an object of the invention to provide circumferentially spaced contacts on a generally cylindrical insu lator body rotating with the camshaft, and a spring finger arrangement for circumferential wiping contact with said cylindrical surface for making and breaking the circuit in accordance with the rotation of the camshaft, while the said fingers are held against said cylindrical surface by constant pressure and without substantial relative movement; thereby to obtain a ground and more positive length of contacts for the entire duration of the spark, which in turn results in better combustion of fuel, quicker starting, higher efiiciency of the engine, eliminating floating action of breaker points, bucking and misfiring; it is a particular advantage of the invention that the so called cutting out at high speed is obviated.

Other advantages of the invention are that complicated adjustments are eliminated, greater life to the wear point is assured, and that the present improvement can be easily attached and arranged in present type distributors on or in place of the cams and breaker levers and contacts in use at present.

Another object of the invention is to provide a cylindrical insulating body having spaced ground contacts on its circumference engaged positively and constantly by brushes or shoes on a pair of spring arms so as to assure firm contact and definite making and breaking of the circuit; the device being simple in construction and economical to manufacture, strong, durable and highly ethcient and serviceable in use.

I am aware that some changes may be made in the general arrangements and combinations of the several devices and parts, as well as in the details of the construction thereof without departing from the scope of the present invention as set forth in the following specification, and as defined in the following claims; hence I do not limit my invention to the exact arrangements and combinations of the said device and parts as described in the said specification, nor do I confine myself to the exact details of the construction of the said parts as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

With the foregoing and other objects in View, which will be made manifest in the following detailed description, reference is had to the accompanying drawings for the illustrative embodiment of the invention, wherein:

Fig. l is a perspective view of the base of a distributor with my device in position, the cap of the distributor being shown in broken lines.

Fig. 2 is a detail perspective view of the rotating contact element.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the distributor with my device in place.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view, the section being taken on lines 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a modified form of the rotating contact element.

Fig. 6 is a modified form of unitary rotating contact element and a top rotor.

in the usual distributor housing or base 1 is provided a camshaft 2 of the usual type which is suitably grounded. This distributor housing or base and its camshaft and its drive are of the usual structure heretofore in use.

On the camshaft 2 is suitably mounted a rotating contact cylinder 3. This cylinder may be mounted directly on the camshaft 2, but in the herein illustration the cylinder 3 is pressed over the existing cam 4. This cylinder 3 is made of an insulating body 5 provided with a r plurality of circumferentially spaced conductor contacts 6 which latter are connected by a conductor such as a lining 7 and in some instances by top flange 8 to the camshaft 2 and then to the ground of the ignition circuit, not shown.

In the base 1 there is provided a usual post 9, but in stead of the previously used breaker spring levers and contacts I provide forked spring arms 11 which extend to the opposite sides of a hub 12 suitably mounted on the reduced top 13 of the post 9 and may be held in place by a clamp ring 14 or the like. A low tension lead 16 extends in the usual way from the hub 12 of spring arms 11 to the usual terminal 17 on the base 1. On the end of each spring arm 11 is a shoe or brush 18 each of which has a concave contact face 19 concentric with the contact cylinder heretofore described.

As the contact cylinder 3 is rotated, the relative spacing of the conductor contacts 6 and of the brushes 18 is such that the respective brushes 18 always contact a pair of contacts 6 at the same time and leave the same conductor contacts 6 simultaneously, thereby assuring positive electric flow throughout the entire contact period and then break abruptly and instantly. This is determined by the proportion of the concave brush faces 19 with respect to the contact 6 in accordance with the required cam dwell. For instance, in connection with a six cylinder engine the contact by each brush face 19 is for approximately 35. The insulated circumferential spac ing 21 between contacts 6 is approximately 25, so as to provide for the required 35 cam dwell and the corresponding breaking period of the ignition. For instance in an eight cylinder engine the brushes may be so spaced that the respective brushes, instead of simultaneous contact, make and brake alternately, thus permitting the use of four contacts instead of eight. The same arrangement in a six cylinder engine would permit use of three contacts instead of six. This relation varies in conformance with the number of cylinders or type of engine on which the distributor is used. Each brush face 19 is circumferentially shorter than the width of the spacing 21 between adjacent contacts 6 so as to assure positive breaking, yet prolonged circuit closing. The forked arms 11 can be easily shifted for advancing or retarding the spark by the present devices in the distributor.

When the contact cylinder 3 is used directly on the camshaft 2, then it is formed as shown in Fig. 5, namely each contact 22 extends radially inwardly as a sector cross section to the central conductor bushing 23 which '11-; latter is either pressed on or keyed by a key 24 to the camshaft 2 directly. In the first form timing location can be determined directly by providing a fiat 26 in the lining 7 to correspond to one of the flats of the existing cam 4, and the contacts 6 thus will be positioned correspondingly to the required cam dwells.

As shown in Fig. 6, the rotating cylinder 3 may be made with a top rotor body 27 in one piece, so as to eliminate the separate distributing rotor 28 shown in Fig. 3. This would assure a definite alignment between the contacts 6 and the distributor or rotor arm 29 under all circumstances.

I claim:

1. In a distributor for the circuit of an ignition system the combination with a camshaft and a base, a generally cylindrical rotating member on said shaft in said base, a generally insulating body forming said member, circumferentially spaced contacts in the periphery of said member being spaced apart to correspond to the desired cam-dwell for closing and breaking the circuit of said ignition system, means to electrically connect said contacts to the camshaft, and a stationary brush in said base bearing against the periphery of said rotating memher, said brush including spring arms extended toward the periphery of said member, and a shoe formed on the end of each arm, bearing against said periphery, the width of each shoe being less than a spacing between adjacent contacts, and said shoes being spaced from one another generally at greater distance than the width of a spacing and a contact.

2. In a distributor for the circuit of an ignition system the combination with a camshaft and a base, a generally cylindrical rotating member on said shaft in said base, a

generally insulating body forming said member, circumferentially spaced contacts in the periphery of said memher being spaced apart to correspond to the desired camdwell for closing and breaking the circuit of said ignition system, means to electrically connect said contacts to the camshaft, and a stationary brush in said base bearing against the periphery of said rotating member, said brush including spring arms extended toward the periphcry of said member, and a shoe formed on the end of each arm bearing againstsaid periphery, the width of each shoe being less than a spacing between adjacent contacts, and'said shoes being spaced from one another generally at a greater distance than the width of a spacing and a contact, the surface of each shoe in contact with said periphery being concave generally concentrically to said rotating member.

3. In a distributor for the circuit of an ignition system the combination with a camshaft and a base, a generally cylindrical rotating member on said shaft in said base, a generally insulating body forming said member, circumferentially spaced contacts in the periphery of said member being spaced apart to correspond to the desired canrdweil for closing and breaking the circuit of said ignition System, means to electrically connect said contacts to the camshaft, and a stationary brush in said base bearing against the periphery of said rotating member, said brush including a hub adapted to be held on the usual post of said distributor, spring arms extended from said hub toward said rotating member, and a contact shoe formed on each spring arm contacting the periphery of said rotating member, the said shoes being spaced apart at a greater distance than the width of a spacing and a contact between said contacts, and a contacting face on each shoe being shorter than said spacing between said contacts.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,172,384 Moulton Feb. 22, 1916 1,267,991 Dickerson May 28, 1918 1,466,392 Evans Aug. 28, 1923 1,532,573 Bruno Apr. 7, 1925 1,861,545 Newschat't'er June 7, 1932 2,510,067 Callander June 6, 1950 2,766,338 Jamieson et al. Oct. 9, 1956 

